Lufthansa of Germany and Air France
said they would reroute flights over the region until the circumstances
of the accident were established, a sign that airlines have become a
lot more cautious in recent years about flying over regions involved in
conflicts.

One Egyptian official, Ayman al-Muqadem of the government's Aviation
Incidents Committee, said that before the plane lost contact with air
traffic controllers, the pilot had radioed and said the aircraft was
experiencing technical problems and that he intended to try and land at
the nearest airport.It was impossible to independently confirm whether technical problems
were to blame, and no other Egyptian official repeated the claim on
Saturday.

In response, the terrorist group declared a “holy war” against Russia
and the U.S., which is carrying out a separate military campaign
against ISIS in Iraq and, now, Syria. “Islamic
youth everywhere, ignite jihad against the Russians and the Americans
in their crusaders’ war against Muslims,” the group’s spokesman Abu
Mohammad al-Adnani said in a statement on Oct. 13, according to Reuters.

Senior officials from the U.S. have also warned that the Russian
airstrikes would make it a target for terrorists. “This will have
consequences for Russia
itself, which is rightly fearful of attacks,” U.S. Defense Secretary
Ash Carter said on Oct. 8. “In coming days, the Russians will begin to
suffer from casualties,” he said during a summit of the NATO alliance in Brussels.

The pilot of the Russian airliner that crashed in the Sinai Peninsula
did not request assistance from the air traffic control at Sharm
El-Sheikh airport before the incident, Egyptian Minister of Civil
Aviation Hossam Kamal said Saturday.

Egyptian sources- (1 Egyptian source, just 1)- were quoted as saying earlier the Airbus-321 flight
9268 pilot requested help from air traffic controllers due to technical
difficulties. The airliner with 224 people on board disappeared
from radars 23 minutes after takeoff en route to St. Petersburg.

“The air traffic controllers’ communication with the Russian airplane
was carried out normally until the disaster,” Kamal said at a press
conference.

The A321 is a medium-haul jet in service since 1994, with over 1,100 in
operation worldwide and a good safety record. *It is a highly automated
aircraft relying on computers to help pilots stay within safe flying
limits*

*It is a highly automated
aircraft relying on computers to help pilots stay within safe flying
limits*

Could the automated controls have been tampered with? I'm asking for input as I think aloud?Thanks

Chris Roberts, a security researcher with One World Labs, told the FBI
agent during an interview in February that he had hacked the in-flight
entertainment system, or IFE, on an airplane and overwrote code on the
plane’s Thrust Management Computer while aboard the flight. He was able
to issue a climb command and make the plane briefly change course, the
document states.

Roberts had previously told WIRED that he caused a plane to climb
during a simulated test on a virtual environment he and a colleague
created, but he insisted then that he had not interfered with the
operation of a plane while in flight.

He told WIRED that he did access in-flight networks about 15 times
during various flights but had not done anything beyond explore the
networks and observe data traffic crossing them. According to the FBI
affidavit, however, when he mentioned this to agents last February he
told them that he also had briefly commandeered a plane during one of
those flights.

He told the FBI that the period in which he accessed the in-flight
networks more than a dozen times occurred between 2011 and 2014. The
affidavit, however, does not indicate exactly which flight he allegedly
caused to turn to fly to the side.

He obtained physical access to the networks through the Seat
Electronic Box, or SEB. These are installed two to a row, on each side
of the aisle under passenger seats, on certain planes. After removing
the cover to the SEB by “wiggling and Squeezing the box,” Roberts told
agents he attached a Cat6 ethernet cable, with a modified connector, to
the box and to his laptop and then used default IDs and passwords to
gain access to the inflight entertainment system. Once on that network,
he was able to gain access to other systems on the planes.

Reaction in the security community to the new revelations in the
affidavit have been harsh. Although Roberts hasn’t been charged yet with
any crime, and there are questions about whether his actions really did
cause the plane to list to the side or he simply thought they did, a
number of security researchers have expressed shock that he attempted to
tamper with a plane during a flight.

“I find it really hard to believe but if that is the case he deserves
going to jail,” wrote Jaime Blasco, director of AlienVault Labs in a
tweet.

Alex Stamos, chief information security officer of Yahoo, wrote in a
tweet, “You cannot promote the (true) idea that security research
benefits humanity while defending research that endangered hundreds of
innocents.”

The officials from the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) were not
at all happy about what they were hearing. An unshaven 32-year-old from
Spain, his hair pulled back in a ponytail, was talking about cockpit
computers and their weaknesses and security loopholes. Specifically, he
was telling the EASA officials how he had managed to buy original parts
from aviation suppliers on Ebay for just a few hundred dollars. His goal
was to simulate the data exchange between current passenger-jet models
and air-traffic controllers on the ground in order to search for
possible backdoors. His search was successful. Very successful.

Considering the highly automated nature of this plane? Considering what appears to be the real ability for hackers to take down planes? It wouldn't appear that there would be any need for a bomb or for a plane to be shot down, in order to cause a crash.

A militant group affiliated to Islamic State in Egypt
claimed responsibility for the downing of a Russian passenger plane that
crashed in Egypt's Sinai peninsula on Saturday, the group said in a
statement circulated by supporters on Twitter.

Egyptian security sources earlier on Saturday said early investigations suggested the plane crashed due to a technical fault.

The claim of responsibility was also carried by the Aamaq website which acts as a semi official news agency for Islamic State

"The
fighters of the Islamic State were able to down a Russian plane over
Sinai province that was carrying over 220 Russian crusaders. They were
all killed, thanks be to God," the statement circulated on Twitter said.

A Russian aircraft carrying more than 220 people crashed Saturday in
the Sinai Peninsula more than 20 minutes after takeoff from a Red Sea
resort popular with Russian tourists, Egypt's Ministry of Civil Aviation
said.

It is not immediately known whether there are any survivors among the
217 passengers and seven crew members but an Egyptian government
spokesman said 50 ambulances were headed to the crash site to offer
medical care if needed.

Adel Mahgoub, chairman of the state company that runs Egypt's civilian
airports, said all passengers and crew were Russian citizens.

A ministry statement said Egyptian military search and rescue teams
found the wreckage of the passenger jet in the Hassana area south of the
city of el-Arish, an area in northern Sinai where Egyptian security
forces are fighting a burgeoning Islamic militant insurgency led by a
local affiliate of the extremist Islamic State group.

It said the plane, believed to be an Airbus model, took off from Sharm
el-Sheikh shortly before 6 a.m. for St. Petersburg in Russia and
disappeared from radar screens 23 minutes after takeoff. The reported
time lapse between takeoff and loss of contact with the aircraft means
that the plane was possibly flying at a cruising altitude of some 30,000
feet when it crashed.

Militants in northern Sinai have not to date shot down commercial
airliners or fighter-jets. There have been persistent media reports that
they have acquired Russian shoulder-fired, anti-aircraft missiles. But
these types of missiles can only be effective against low-flying
aircraft or helicopters. In January 2014, Sinai-based militants claimed
to have shot down a military helicopter; Egyptian officials at the time
acknowledged the helicopter had crashed, but gave no reason.

Earlier in the day, an Egyptian official with the government's Aviation
Incidents Committee told local media that the plane had briefly lost
contact but was now safely in Turkish airspace.

Later, the same official, Ayman al-Muqadem, said the plane has crashed
and that the pilot, before losing contact, had radioed that the aircraft
was experiencing technical problems and that he intended to try and
land at the nearest airport.

I am not a fan of the two narrative presentation. Always highly suggestive someone is 'muddying the waters'...An official reports the Russian plane is safely in Turkish airspace.The same official then reports the plane had crashed after experiencing technical difficulties?
So we go from the plane being safely in Turkish airspace to the plane crashing due to technical difficulties? Despite the fact that technical difficulties cannot be confirmed nor substantiated without a whole pile of information- Clearly there is no way this Ayman al Muqadem could have that information.

The aircraft crashed at a site near the
el-Arish airport, he said. It was not immediately possible to independently confirm that technical problems caused the plane to crash.

Egyptian officials say there are no survivors from the crash of a
Russian airliner in Sinai. The aircraft carrying more than 220 people
crashed Saturday in a remote mountainous region in the Sinai Peninsula more than 20 minutes after takeoff from a Red Sea resort popular with
Russian tourists, Egypt’s Ministry of Civil Aviation said

According to the IDF,
a reconnaissance plane was sent to help the Egyptians locate the
airliner after it had lost contact and was missing somewhere over the
sprawling Sinai Peninsula. The army spokesperson said the IDF has
offered additional aid should Egypt want it.

"Since this morning the IDF
assisted with aerial surveillance in the efforts to locate the Russian
airplane that lost contact over the Sinai Peninsula. The IDF has offered
continued assistance to both Russia and Egypt if required," a military
statement said.

The
Airbus A-321, operated by Russian airline Kogalymavia with registration
number KGL-9268, was flying from the Sinai Red Sea resort of Sharm
el-Sheikh to St Petersburg in Russia when it went down in a desolate
mountainous area of central Sinai soon after daybreak, the aviation
ministry said.

13:39 GMT
According to Egypt's security forces, as cited by Reuters, a technical fault was to blame for the crash.Search and rescue teams are finding bodies in a radius of up to 5km
(3.1 miles) from the crash site. Approximately 150, some burnt, have
been pulled out of the wreckage so far.

Egypt's aviation authority is now refuting
earlier claims that on-board recording devices were uncovered in the
search of the crash site.Reuters, however, says the black boxes were indeed found by the rescue workers, citing security sources at the site.

10:55 GMT

The black boxes have been uncovered at the scene of the Kolavia A321 crash, Al Jazeera reports, citing sources on the ground.

10:41 GMT

The Russian Emergencies Ministry held an urgent meeting over the plane crash in Sinai to answer questions.

"The Egyptian military told RT access to the crash site may be difficult
for the press due to the volatile security situation in the Sinai. Large
parts of the peninsula are dangerous due to the presence of militants,
with only coastal areas in the north and south adequately guarded by
security forces. The crash site is in the Hassana area 35 km south of
Arish, the largest city in the Sinai"

Friday, October 30, 2015

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (L) and US Secretary
of State John Kerry (R) listen while UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan
de Mistura (C) speaks during a press conference at the Grand Hotel
October 30, 2015 in Vienna, Austria. US Secretary of State John Kerry
and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that they had agreed
that Syria must emerge from civil war as a unified secular state

VIENNA: Following is the full text of a joint communique issued on
Friday after ministerial talks on a political solution to the Syrian
civil war as agreed by 17 countries, the European Union and the United
Nations.

Meeting in Vienna, on October 30, 2015, China, Egypt, the EU, France,
Germany, Iran, Iraq, Italy, Jordan, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Russia, Saudi
Arabia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, the United
Nations, and the United States ["the participants"] came together to
discuss the grave situation in Syria and how to bring about an end to
the violence as soon as possible.
The participants had a frank and constructive discussion, covering
major issues. While substantial differences remain among the
participants, they reached a mutual understanding on the following:
1. Syria's unity, independence, territorial integrity, and secular character are fundamental.
2. State institutions will remain intact.
3. The rights of all Syrians, regardless of ethnicity or religious denomination, must be protected.
4. It is imperative to accelerate all diplomatic efforts to end the war.
5. Humanitarian access will be ensured throughout the territory of
Syria, and the participants will increase support for internally
displaced persons, refugees, and their host countries.
6. Da'esh (Islamic State), and other terrorist groups, as designated
by the U.N. Security Council, and further, as agreed by the
participants, must be defeated.
7. Pursuant to the 2012 Geneva Communique and U.N. Security Council
Resolution 2118, the participants invited the U.N. to convene
representatives of the Government of Syria and the Syrian opposition for
a political process leading to credible, inclusive, non-sectarian
governance, followed by a new constitution and elections. These
elections must be administered under U.N. supervision to the
satisfaction of the governance and to the highest international
standards of transparency and accountability, free and fair, with all
Syrians, including the diaspora, eligible to participate.
8. This political process will be Syrian led and Syrian owned, and the Syrian people will decide the future of Syria.
9. The participants together with the United Nations will explore
modalities for, and implementation of, a nationwide ceasefire to be
initiated on a date certain and in parallel with this renewed political
process.
The participants will spend the coming days working to narrow
remaining areas of disagreement, and build on areas of agreement.
Ministers will reconvene within two weeks to continue these discussions.Don't Miss:

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has offered his
congratulations to prime minister designate Justin Trudeau in a
telephone call affirming the friendship of the two countries.

Past Liberal governments have always had a pro-Israel foreign policy,
but because of the vocal support of the Conservatives since 2006, some
Israeli commentators have raised questions about whether the new Liberal
majority government will still be as close to Israel.
Barak told The Canadian Press on Thursday that Trudeau also has a record of unwavering support for Israel.

"Mr. Trudeau has been very consistent from the very beginning of his
campaign, in expressing his support for Israel," said Barak.

"I'm sure maybe the style will change," the envoy added. "But I don't
feel there will be a change on the substance. I'm really reassured."

Trudeau also "explained there would be a shift in tone but Canada would continue to be a friend of Israel's,"she added.

In plain talk the Trudeau government will be just as servile to Israel as Harper's government. But will make that servitude less obvious.

No visit in short term

The Middle East was raised briefly during the election campaign's
foreign policy debate in Toronto on Sept. 28, which gave Trudeau the
opportunity to accuse Harper of using it as a wedge issue domestically.

"The issue of Israel, where we most disagree as Liberals with Mr.
Harper, is that he has made support for Israel a domestic political
football when all three of us support Israel and any Canadian government
will," Trudeau said.

Netanyahu also invited Trudeau to visit Israel.
"We hope that we will see him soon," Barak said. "It was a very warm call."
That isn't likely to happen soon. Trudeau already has a full
international schedule, packed with four multilateral summits in the
coming weeks.
So far, he has committed to attending the Paris climate change
conference in early December with a full delegation that includes the
opposition party leaders and several provincial premiers.

Of course this Gorran movement piqued my interest. And it didn't take me long to find an informative article about the Gorran movement and who is behind it? If you understand and accept the theory that the PKK & it's affiliates, including YPG, are NATO assets- Think Stay Behind Army/Operation Gladio, then you should find this an enlightening read.

The fallout between the KDP and Gorran follows a series of
protests in Sulaimania province and its adjacent areas since last week
that witnessed violent attacks on KDP offices. At least four people were
reported dead and dozens injured as a result of clashes between the
armed guards of KDP offices and protesters. One of those killed was a
KDP member. Barzani's party reacted furiously to the attacks on its
offices, accusing Gorran of masterminding the assaults, a charge that
Gorran has denied.

The Gorran Movement appears on par with the divisive identity politic party aka the Kurdish HDP party in Turkey- And for good reason. Both Gorran and the HDP are the political faces of the PKK.Now isn't that interesting?

2013: While Abdullah Ocalan, leader of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) pursues the cease-fire plan with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the PKK is also involved in a subtle power struggle across Turkey’s borders. This struggle is being played out by the PKK’s efforts to check the influence of Massoud Barzani, president of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, over leadership of the Kurds. By engaging in the Kurdistan Region’s messy pre-election politics and supporting the opposition Change Movement (Goran), the PKK is attempting to stifle a third mandate for Barzani, while stirring local criticism of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). These PKK interventions are unlikely to alter the status quo in the region — at least for the forthcoming elections — however; they are fueling political fragmentation and creating additional challenges to regional stability.

How does Ocalan manage to be so influential ;)

Indeed, rivalries between the PKK and Barzani’s Kurdistan Democratic
Party (KDP) are nothing new. During the Iraqi Kurdish civil war of the
1990s, the PKK and KDP engaged in armed conflict against each other, as
well as the KDP against the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK). The
Ocalan-Barzani competition re-emerged after the Syrian civil war broke
out, and as different Syrian Kurdish groups
backed by the PKK and its affiliate, the Democratic Union Party (PYD)
vied for power with the KDP-supported Kurdish National Council.This
rivalry continues with Barzani tied to Turkey and attempting to court
Syrian Kurdish youth groups and independents away from PYD influence.

Still, Barzani and Ocalan reached a tacit agreement after Ocalan’s
imprisonment in 1999, which allowed the PKK to relocate in the Kandil
Mountains in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. The KRG also tolerates the
presence of thousands of PKK supporters in the Makhmour Camp, where they
have been residing since 1994 as political refugees. Moreover, despite
the rapprochement between Erbil and Ankara, Barzani has affirmed that
“the period of Kurds killing Kurds is over” and that the KRG Peshmerga
would not engage militarily against the PKK or any other Kurdish group.

These efforts have led to a mutually peaceful coexistence between the
KDP and PKK, despite the distinctly different ideologies and regional
relationships each has developed, particularly with Ankara.The last six months, however, have seen a shift in PKK tactics inside
the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. Whereas the PKK leader in Kandil, Murat
Karaliyan, had previously indicated his willingness to work with Barzani
in 2009, he now opposes electing him to a third term as president.The
PKK is using its networks and social media to incite local opposition
against Barzani and the Iraqi Kurdish parties. For instance, it is
encouraging local populations in the Iraqi Kurdish-Iranian border town
of Halabja to criticize the KRG and Barzani for lack of services. One of
the PKK websites has inflammatory photos and remarks about Barzani's
leadership, as well as other KRG political party leaders.

The PKK tactics in Iraq are extremely familiar. So very much like PKK tactics in Turkey..

This shift reflects a reaction to Barzani’s growing power — including
his close ties to Erdogan — and his claims or ambitions to become a
leader of all the Kurds, expressed in Kurdish as “president of
Kurdistan,”which the PKK rejects.

More specifically, the PKK shift
coincides with the illness of Jalal Talabani, president of Iraq and
leader of the PUK, which has further weakened the PUK and limited any
serious competition for the KDP and Barzani's power. In fact, the rump
of the PUK — known as the "Gang of Four" — may have called for a
separate list in the planned September elections to reflect its
differences and attempts to challenge the KDP. Yet the PUK leadership
continues to support and depend upon Barzani as president, particularly
as a financial patron.

This is why the PKK is now calling for a “Kurdistan supported by
Goran.” Goran remains the only secular Kurdish nationalist party that
seeks to remove Barzani from office while pressing for a parliamentary
and not presidential system for the region.Goran also has indicated its
support for the PKK and affirmed the PYD as the representative of the
Kurds in Syria, posing another direct challenge to Barzani and the KDP.
The PKK-Goran alliance also is based on shared concerns about Turkey’s
regional power and the need to check Erdogan’s influence over Iraqi
Kurds and in Syria.

It is unlikely that the PKK will weaken the deeply rooted patronage
networks inside the Kurdistan Region that will assure Barzani power and
KDP and PUK influence for years to come. Many people, particularly the
youth, may support the PKK as true Kurdish nationalists and back Goran;
however, they also have been co-opted by the increasingly generous
handouts and comfortable lifestyles made available to them by the KRG in
recent years. Many others are disinterested in politics altogether or
unwilling to pay the consequences of being linked to the opposition.

Still, PKK engagement in Iraqi Kurdish politics matters because it
reveals the growing complexity of the trans-border Kurdish problem and
the PKK’s political agenda to change the status quo. This challenge will
not only be about advancing Kurdish nationalist rights in different
states, but clarifying who will represent Kurdish interests and what
form these nationalist interests should take.Whatever the outcome,
these struggles will likely create a wide opening for more deal-making
between Kurdish groups and regional states, keeping the Kurdish
nationalist movement fragmented from within and across borders.

It appears that the PKK is the 'unifying' force amongst the Kurds- I didn't say the agreed upon unifying force- Rather, the unifying FORCE, needed by NATO to create a Kurdish 'state'
Whether or not the Kurdish population itself really wants one.

Reality on planet earth- Arctic Ice has expanded overall because it's been so darn cold!

Reality on planet earth - because the SUMMER sun shines 24/7, on the Arctic ice, the ice always recedes in the summer. Which is why the liars and promoters of the big lie always use summer ice as their selling point! Reality is such an inconvenient truth for the carbon cult!

The midnight sun is a natural phenomenon that occurs in the local summer months in places north of the Arctic Circle or south of the Antarctic Circle, when the sun remains visible at the local midnight. Around the summer solstice (approximately 21 June in the north and 22 December in the south) the sun is visible for the full 24 hours.

Using a natural occurring phenomena to fear monger. That is the way of the carbon cult. The ignorance of the populace is what allows for this lie to pass.Appeal to fear ! Appeal to fear is a fallacy in which a person attempts to create support for an idea by using deception and propaganda
It is a deception to suggest that AGW causes the summer ice to melt in the Arctic, when the reality is the sun shines 24/7 for six months naturally melting the ice.
Grrrr.....

The desperate conflict in Syria has triggered another flurry of diplomacy, with Russia suggesting it is now driving ahead plans for a political solution as robust as its recent military intervention. There is no sign of anything more hopeful on this bleak horizon so the US and its partners could do worse than call the Kremlin’s bluff — on the allegedly clear goals that President Vladimir Putin contrasts with Washington’s fog of indecision and adventurist backing of Syrian rebels.

During his annual Valdai gathering in Sochi last week, Mr Putin said that, at his recent meeting in Moscow with Bashar al-Assad, he had won the Syrian president over to the idea of supporting rebel groups if they were willing to fight the jihadis of Isis. Little is known of what transpired at this meeting, not least because Mr Assad was spirited out of Damascus without his entourage. So Mr Putin won attention in Sochi when he said he would “pull open the curtain a little on my talks with President Assad”.

The Russian president said he asked Mr Assad: “What view would you take if we found, now in Syria, an armed opposition which nonetheless was ready to oppose and really fight against terrorists, against Islamic State [Isis]? What would be your view if we were to support their efforts in fighting Islamic State in the same way we are supporting the Syrian army?”Mr Putin reported that Mr Assad said he“would view that positively”, and that as a result “we are now thinking about this and are trying, if it works out, to reach these agreements”.

Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister, later glossed the armed groups to which his boss referred as units of a still undefined “patriotic opposition”. He then proceeded to magic out of the thin mountain air a nine-point plan to take to Vienna, where he met last Friday with John Kerry, US secretary of state, and the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia and Turkey, who are due to meet again this Friday.

The ostensible clarity of Russia’s démarche would be more convincing if it were not based on a narrative so manifestly at odds with the facts. (Whose 'facts'?)A nine-point diplomatic road map, moreover, does not convey substance so much as a lack of seriousness — at least, not enough seriousness to prioritise effectively.

This is from the Financial Times! A nine point road map is not serious- Perhaps a 10 point plan would convey seriousness? How about 3 points? Would that be more serious?

Russia’s priority has been to bomb those rebel forces that have been fighting both the Assad regime and Isis — the principal target of the US-led coalition since the jihadis declared their cross-border caliphate in Syria and Iraq in 2014. Far from joining the fight against Isis, Moscow is concerned to secure and expand the Assad regime’s shrinking rump state. (So?) Western and Arab officials responsible for Syria policy report that the vast majority of Russian air strikes have targeted non-Isis forces.( Again, what's the point?)

These forces include the Free Syrian Army backed by the west, and Islamist militia supported by Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar. Mr Lavrov last week complained the US was refusing to supply the positions on the ground held by this putative “patriotic opposition”. Given that Russian jets have had little difficulty targeting non-Isis rebels so far, from killing their commanders to destroying their hospitals, this was presumably either a satirical touch or throwing yet more sand in people’s eyes.

Financial Time fails to mention that all brand rebels are attacking Syrian people. It's military. It's infrastructure and it's national Army. Making them all terrorists to the nation.

Of course, it is discomfiting to all external parties to Syria’s viciously complicated conflict to categorise some of their allies. The west, for example, regards Assad regime allies such as the Iran-backed Hizbollah paramilitaries of Lebanon or some Iraqi Shia militia as terrorists. Moscow for its part describes as terrorists Ahrar al-Sham, backed by Turkey but allied with Jabhat al-Nusra, the local al-Qaeda branch supported from the Gulf; it often claims the Free Syrian Army does not exist.

Yet no nine-point plan is going to make headway with any of this— especially since about the only point discussed so far is Moscow’s insistence that Mr Assad, regarded by much of his Sunni majority population as a war criminal, must stay on through an interim transition. If the Kremlin really does perceive the well-financed millenarian jihadism of Isis as a regional and global threat, then a more immediate, say, three-point plan might show it is serious about addressing it.

Nine points must have been silly, because author presents a three point plan- which the reader is supposed to take much more seriously then some absurd 9 point plan! Also it's quite obvious that the vast majority of Syria's Sunni population still support Bashar Assad or he would have been long gone. When one considers SAA is mostly Sunni. A fact glossed over by this disingenuous writer

First, start attacking Isis, which Moscow says is the only alternative to the Assad regime. “Just do Isis first, and then, when we see them pushed back, we can get on and talk about [the transition] and whether Assad stays for a period of time”, as one western diplomat involved in the Syria talks puts it.

I would wonder at why it is Russia must fight ISIS, when the west has been claiming to fight them for going on two years now?

Second, stop targeting non-Isis rebels and the barrel-bombing of civilians in rebel enclaves. That would also help ensure a safe zone in the north-west for millions of internally displaced Syrians. Instead, there is a danger that Aleppo could be encircled. Already more than 100,000 people have fled this northern city — an omen of the bigger exodus that could happen.

If alternative to ISIS brand rebels are attacking Syrians in Syria then they are an obvious target. Why should they not be a target?

Third, Russia, like all external actors in Syria (except Isis), is committed to a unitary state restored to its original borders.In practice it is reinforcing the de facto partition of the country by fortifying the Assad statelet. Moscow, and Washington — which is backing Syria’s Kurds across the north — need to start thinking now about viable forms of decentralised local leadership that might eventually coalesce nationally.

Financial Times writers fails to mention that the Kurds alongside NATO are not committed to a unitary state, nor have they ever been committed to such a state. Partition has been the game at play.
So, it's odd to see a western piece claiming Russia is fortifying the partition the west worked so hard to create. Reality being reality, the coastal area was the only area Russia could have worked from. It was the only possible start point to launch any sort of military operation in Syria.

These three points are all part of the same point, which can no longer be disguised by smoke and mirrors: the survival of Syria and its diverse people and the defeat of Isis.

Three points? That's it? Cripes Russia has nine and that wasn't 'serious' enough, but, three is?
And still, Financial Times published this tripe under a very provocative headline and fakes concern for the diverse people of Syria. Garbage. About the only point I can take away from this entire article is the NATO/Israeli terrorists are getting hit hard.

How something 'seems' is oftendifferentfrom reality! First: the new allies aren’t new. The US has been working alongside the Kurds for many years. Second: The Kurds certainly do share US/Israeli goals of remaking the middle east. So right off the bat, McClatchy is misleading the reader on two points.

“The stated U.S. aim is to oust the Islamic State from its de facto capital of Raqqa in Syria. But if the Shammar tribal militia, the biggest in Hasaka province, is any example, many Arab forces on the ground have a different agenda. For that matter, so does the Kurdish People’s Protection Force, or YPG, which dominates this area and has worked closely with the United States since the siege last year of the border town of Kobani.”

The stated aim has always been a lie. The aim & goal has always been a remake of the middle east. To the benefit of many interested players, Israel being the biggest player in the region. And to the detriment of others.

“The road to the palace of Sheikh Humaydi Daham al Hadi, the head of the Shammar tribe, winds through vast wheat fields in this isolated corner of eastern Syria, past checkpoints manned by YPG fighters, and then by his own guards.

Hasaka, an oil, gas and grain producing area, is now part of what the YPG calls Jazera, one of three cantons that comprise Rojava, or west Kurdistan, a 200-mile-long corridor on Syria’s border with Turkey. The Syrian government, which still has troops in at least two cities, has acquiesced to YPG control”

So much for Kurdish allies of Syria.

“Because Turkey views the YPG as a terrorist group and has closed its borders because of the YPG’s affiliation with the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, the only way into Rojava is by a ferry across the Tigris River from Iraq and hours of driving on secondary roads.

Welcoming visitors in his vast reception room, Sheikh Humaydi says his goal is to lead a Shammar tribal uprising against the Islamic State “to liberate Syria, Iraq and beyond.” Buthe also wants to carry on a 2-century-old struggle against conservative Wahabi Islam, which he said destroyed the last Shammar emirate, andhe favors the breakup of Saudi Arabia, where the puritanical sect dominates. “We are already working on that,” he said”

Sheikh Humaydi, like the YPG, is supposed to be fighting ISIS. Just like the US and other NATO allies are alleged to be? However brand rebel ISIS just keeps on chuggin’ all the while PKK/ YPG is busy stealing Syrian territory. Not appearing to spend a whole bunch of time ‘fighting ISIS’ Despite the fantastic tales from the media. No doubt many of them bought and paid for by the Kurdish lobby

And Sheikh Humaydi wants to carry on a struggle against Wahabi Islam by destroying Saudi Arabia? Sure reads like win/win for Israel.

“According to his son, Bandar al Humaydi, who heads the al Sanadid militia, the immediate priority of is “to liberate al Hawl and Ash Shaddadi from the Islamic State,” a reference to two towns in the oil- and gas-producing parts of Hasaka province. Bandar says he has 600 to 700 front-line fighters and 2,000 reserves but is in need of ammunition and better weapons, including TOW anti-tank missiles.”

But any moves by al Sanadid depend on the YPG, which named Sheikh Humaydi co-president of the canton and recommended the al Sanadid militia to the U.S. military to receive military aid airdrops,the only known one of which took place Oct. 11.

In fact, every major decision in Rojava is up to the YPG, including the
actual distribution of U.S. aid. Bandar al Humaydi said YPG military
commanders told him that they had received the first U.S. shipment of 50
tons of ammunition, but that so far the Kurdish militia hadn’t
distributed it. It’s not clear if the Kurdish militia supports Bandar’s
plan to liberate al Hawl and Ash Shaddadi.

If al Sanadid (militia) has no
immediate plansto attack Raqqa, which lies about 150 miles southeast of
here, it reflects the view of the YPG, which controls territory as
little as 35 miles from the Islamic State stronghold.

The claim" the only known one of which took place Oct. 11" is a lie. We know there were multiple drops across Northern Syria. Because I posted information regarding that fact here at the blog- A total of 120 tons of weapons was mentioned. Drops were to take place over the course of a week. And McClatchy is obfuscating that fact by claiming “the only known drop” Which tells us, there were others or the statement would have read “the only drop”

Humaydi contradicts himself, (italics/bold) because he’s lying. He makes two claims. The first reeks of showmanship- He’s going to liberate al Hawl and Ash Shaddadi, but, has no immediate plans nor does he have the means to do so. YPG is in complete control. Therefore Humaydi and his 'militia' aren't going to liberate either town from ISIS, in Syria. However, I find his claim of destroying Saudi Arabia quite interesting. Particularly in light of this news report!

Maybe those terrorists are being flown to Yemen to fight the Houthis? - Or maybe they are being flown to Yemen so the NATO irregulars can move across the Yemen border and destabilize Saudi Arabia. A goal stated by Humaydi, militia leader. Keeping an eye on Saudi Arabia in the very near future and we will all have a better idea of what is really going on with the transference to Yemen of NATO mercenary/jihadis

Back to McClatchy:

“We in the YPG have a strategic goal, to link Afrin with Kobani,” said Polat Can, a senior militia official, referring to two Kurdish enclaves in Rojava that are separated by 60 miles of territory controlled by the Islamic State. “We will do everything we can to achieve it.”

Other areas, such as Raqqa, “are not so important,” he said in an interview in Suleimaniyah, Iraq. Humaydi supports the YPG plan”

American military officials say the U.S. won’t back any such operation, and officials in Ankara say Turkey would block it, by force if necessary. Turkey fears that if the YPG seizes the corridor, millions more Syrian Arabs and Turkmans will flee to Turkey.

American military officials will back the Kurdish goal of linking territories. They have all along. There actions speak louder then their lying lips can deceive.

The statements by Humaydi and Can are the latest sign that Obama administration decisions to fix one problem could have long-term and unintended implications.

Subterfuge.

“The airdrop of ammunition took place just two days after the administration declared an end to its “train-and-equip” program, which had widely been declared a failure. But how the Arab groups were selected to be part of the new program is hardly clear.

The process appears to give the YPG veto power over the buildup of Arab forces. It was Can who announced the creation of the Syrian Democratic Forces on Oct. 11, just hours before the arms airdrop. The al Sanadid militia was among the groups he named.

U.S. officials visited northern Syria in early October to meet with the YPG’s proposed partners. But they declined to meet Sheikh Humaydi at his compound.

One day later, Can told McClatchy that the YPG would retain overall command of the joint Kurdish-Arab force. “The international community has assigned this mission to the YPG,” he said.

Kurds- good allies of NATO/Israel - Here's hoping all those pathetic cheerleaders for the 'plucky Kurds' , particularly those that engaged in ad hominem attacks against my person, finally realize they cheered for the benefit of NATO/Israel. And destruction, mayhem and madness. Unless these persons were paid to disseminate lies? In which case they will never change their disinfo tune.

"It isn’t only Turkey that is likely to question the U.S. approach to
fighting the Islamic State in northern Syria. The method of selecting
military aid recipients seems to favor forces with the agenda to remake
the map of the Middle East. But backing such forces could put the U.S.
into conflict with the stated national interests of regional powers like
Turkey, which is loath to see Syria break apart; Iran, which wants Iraq
to stay together; and Saudi Arabia, which can be expected to defend its
own territorial integrity."

Turkey, does not want to see Syria break apart?

Iran does not want Iraq to break apart?

And Saudi Arabia will defend it's territorial integrity?

Interesting? I would add Turkey does not want to be destroyed either, but that looks to be a plan in motion. It's interesting because ISIS has provided the pretext to make the destruction of all the aforementioned nations possible- Who benefits? Israel & Kurds the allies of Israel.

The last few paragraphs of the McClatchy article:

We have been fighting ISIS for almost two years,” he said. “We were
the first to fight them. The most important thing is we need weapons, to
encourage people to come for training. If I had weapons, ammunition and
support, I could gather 10,000 fighters.”
Unlike the Shammar
leadership, Abu Issa was silent when asked if he supported the YPG’s
goal of capturing another 60 miles of territory along the Syrian-Turkish
border.

“Our goal is to go to Raqqa,” he said.

But he said the
U.S. had not been in contact with him. “We didn’t get anything from the
Americans. They don’t even contact us,” he said. “We are waiting to be
supported.”U.S. officials acknowledged that the Raqqa
Revolutionaries are not being supplied. “He’s making a lot of noise,”
said one U.S. military official, who could not be identified because he
is not authorized to speak on the record. “We’re working through the
Syrian Democratic Forces there. He’s not part of the vetted Arab force.”

Wait a minute! This man wants to fight ISIS. He wants to go to Raqqa. Yet the US does not supply the weapons needed to fight ISIS? In fact the US is not in contact with the one group that really does fight ISIS. Seems odd, no?

"If Canada withdrew its peacekeeping contingent force from the Syrian border, how could this person be a Canadian? This scenario is very suspect!But, wait...... there is more. Much more: Cheney-Linked Company to Drill in Occupied Golan HeightsHow is it that Israel can makes deals to drill in the illegally,
unlawfully Occupied Territory that is actually belonging to Syria

The Israeli government awarded a local subsidiary of U.S.-based Genie
Energy the rights to explore for oil and natural gas in about 150 square
miles of the southern section of the Golan Heights. The United Nations
last year extended the mandate for the region's U.N. Disengagement
Observer Force mission. Genie Energy said there may be "significant quantities" of natural
resources in the region. The license area encompasses about 150 square
miles of the southern portion of the Golan Heights, considered territory
occupied by the Israeli military.

The
geopolitical stakes in the Middle East have just gotten higher by an
order of magnitude. Take a little-known Newark, New Jersey oil company,
the contested Golan Heights between Syria and Israel, add a reported
major oil discovery there just as Russia's bombing campaign in Syria
goes into high gear, shake it vigorously and we have a potential
detonator for World War III.
Initially–going back more than a decade when Washington neo-conservative
think-tanks and the Bush-Cheney Administration were devising their
Greater Middle East regime-change agenda–competing natural gas pipelines
through Syria to Turkey or via Lebanon to the Mediterranean played a
definite "supporting" role in Washington's war on Syria's Assad. Now
oil, lots of oil, comes into the play, and Israel is claiming it's
theirs. The only problem is that it isn't. The oil is in the Golan
Heights which Israel illegally took from Syria in the 1967 Six Day War.

Genie in a stinky bottle

What do Dick Cheney, James Woolsey, Bill Richardson, Jacob Lord
Rothschild, Rupert Murdock, Larry Summers and Michael Steinhardt have in
common? They all are members of the Strategic Advisory Board of a
Newark, New Jersey-based oil and gas group with the name, Genie Energy.
It's quite a collection of names.

"Dick Cheney, before becoming George W. Bush's "shadow president" in
2001, was CEO of the world's largest oilfield services company,
Halliburton, also reported to be a CIA-linked company tied to the Bush
family cabal. James Woolsey, a neo-con former CIA Director under Bill
Clinton, today sits as the chairman of the neo-con think-tank,
Foundation for Defense of Democracies, and is a member of the pro-Likud
Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP). He was a member of
the infamous Project for a New American Century (PNAC), along with
Cheney, Don Rumsfeld and a gaggle of neo-cons who later staffed the
Bush-Cheney administration. After September 11, 2001 Woolsey referred to
the Bush-Cheney War on Terror as "World War IV," counting the Cold War
as World War III. Bill Richardson is a former US Secretary of Energy.
Rupert Murdock, owner of major US and UK media including the Wall Street
Journal, is the major financier of the neo-conservative Weekly Standard
of Bill Kristol, who founded the PNAC. Larry Summers was US Treasury
Secretary and drafted the laws that deregulated US banks from the 1933
Glass-Steagall Act, in effect opening the floodgates to the US financial
crisis of 2007-2015. Michael Steinhardt the hedge fund speculator, is a
philanthropic friend of Israel, of Marc Rich and a board member of
Woolsey's neo-con Foundation for the Defense of Democracies. And Jacob
Lord Rothschild is a former business partner of convicted Russian oil
oligarch, Mikhail Khodorkovsky. Before his arrest Khodorkovsky secretly
transferred his shares in Yukos Oil to Rothschild. Rothschild is a
part-owner of Genie Energy which in 2013 was granted exclusive oil and
gas exploration rights to a 153-square mile radius in the southern part
of the Golan Heights by the Netanyahu government. In short, it's quite
an eye-popping board.

The BBC was not alone in reporting this news. Though it did not enjoy widespread coverage. The Washington Times covered it, and this was the article I saved so many years ago..."

Golan Heights and international law

The Israeli government gave the concession to Genie in the disputed
Golan Heights in 2013 when the US-led destabilization of the Syrian
Assad regime was in full force. Conveniently, Israel also began building
fortifications at that time to seal off the illegally-occupied Golan
Heights from Syria, knowing there was little Assad or Syria could do to
stop it. In 2013, as Genie Energy began moving into Golan Heights,
Israeli military engineers overhauled the forty-five mile border fence
with Syria, replacing it with a steel barricade that includes barbed
wire, touch sensors, motion detectors, infrared cameras, and ground
radar, putting it on par with the Wall Israel has constructed in the West Bank.
Now, as Damascus fights for its life, apparently, Genie has discovered a huge oil field precisely there.The Golan Heights, however, are illegally occupied by Israel. In 1981,
Israel passed the Golan Heights Law, imposing Israeli "laws,
jurisdiction and administration" to the Golan Heights. In response the
UN Security Council passed Resolution 242 which declared Israel must
withdraw from all lands occupied in the 1967 war with Syria, including
the Golan Heights.

Again in 2008 a plenary session of the UN General Assembly passed a
resolution 161--1 in favor of a motion on the Golan Heights that
reaffirmed Security Council resolution 497, which was passed in 1981
after the Israeli de facto annexation, declaring the Golan Heights Law,
"null and void and without international legal effect," and called on
Israel to desist from "changing the physical character, demographic
composition, institutional structure and legal status of the occupied
Syrian Golan and, in particular, to desist from the establishment of
settlements…from imposing Israeli citizenship and Israeli identity cards
on the Syrian citizens in the occupied Syrian Golan and from its
repressive measures against the population of the occupied Syrian
Golan." Israel was the only nation to vote against the resolution. As
recently as June 2007 Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert sent a secret
communique to Syrian President Bashar Assad saying that Israel would
concede the Golan Heights in exchange for a comprehensive peace
agreement and the severing of Syria's ties with Iran and militant groups
in the region.

Genie claims huge discovery

On October 8, into the second week of Russian airstrikes against ISIS
and other so-called "moderate" terrorists at the request of the Assad
government, Yuval Bartov, chief geologist from Genie Energy's Israeli
subsidiary, Afek Oil & Gas, told Israel's Channel 2 TV that his
company had found a major oil reservoir on the Golan Heights: "We've
found an oil stratum 350 meters thick in the southern Golan Heights. On
average worldwide, strata are 20 to 30 meters thick, and this is 10
times as large as that, so we are talking about significant quantities."
This oil find has now made the Golan Heights a strategic "prize" that
clearly has the Netanyahu government more determined than ever to sow
chaos and disorder in Damascus and use that to de facto create an
Israeli irreversible occupation of Golan and its oil. A minister in the
Netanyahu coalition government, Naftali Bennett, Minister of Education
and Minister of Diaspora Affairs and leader of the right-wing religious
party, The Jewish Home, has made a proposal that Israel settle 100,000
new Israeli settlers across the Golan in five years. He argues that with
Syria "disintegrating" after years of civil war, it's hard to imagine a
stable state to which the Golan Heights could be returned. Further a
growing chorus in Tel Aviv is arguing that Netanyahu demand American
recognition of Israel's 1981 annexation of the Golan as an "appropriate
salve to Israeli security concerns in the wake of the nuclear deal with Iran."

Energy war has been a significant component of US, Israeli, Qatari,
Turkish, and, until recently, Saudi, strategy against Syria's Assad
regime. Before the latest Golan Heights oil discovery, the focus on
Assad pivoted on the huge regional natural gas resources of both Qatar
and of Iran on opposite sides of the Persian Gulf, comprising the
largest known gas discovery in the world to date.In 2009 the government of Qatar, today home to the Muslim Brotherhood
and a major funder of ISIS in Syria and Iraq, met with Bashar al-Assad
in Damascus.
Qatar proposed to Bashar that Syria join in an agreement to allow a
transit gas pipeline from Qatar's huge North Field in the Persian Gulf
adjacent to Iran's huge South Pars gas field. The Qatari pipeline would
have gone through Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Syria and on to Turkey to supply
European markets. Most crucially, it would bypass Russia. An Agence
France-Presse report claimed Assad's rationale was "to protect the
interests of his Russian ally, which is Europe's top supplier of natural
gas." In 2010 Assad instead joined talks with Iran and Iraq for an
alternative $10 billion pipeline plan that would also potentially allow
Iran to supply gas to Europe from its South Pars field in the Iranian
waters of the Persian Gulf. The three countries signed a Memorandum of
Understanding in July 2012 – just as Syria's civil war was spreading to Damascus and Aleppo.

Now an apparent discovery of huge volumes of oil by a New Jersey oil
company whose board includes Iraq war architect, Dick Cheney, neo-con
ex-CIA head James Woolsey, and Jacob Lord Rothschild, business partner
of one of Vladimir Putin's most bitter critics, Mikhail Khodorkovsky,
bring the stakes of the Russian intervention on behalf of Syria's Assad
against ISIS, Al Qaeda and other CIA-backed "moderate" terrorists" to a
new geopolitical dimension. The US coup in Ukraine in 2014, and its
financing and training of ISIS and other "moderate" terrorist gangs in
Syria all have one prime target–Russia and her network of allies, a
network, ironically, which Washington and Israeli policies are expanding
almost by the hour.

For those who insist on promoting the concept of the poor beleaguered kurds without differentiation. Alongside the other falsehood regardingkurdish militias being allies of Syria or of a unified Syria?They aren't. The multi ton US weapons airdrop directly to YPG should have made clear just where their loyalty lies. The connected Kurds. The Kurdish elites. They have their own agenda. In Syria. And Turkey.

Tourism aside, the same sophisticated lobbying operation that had assembled the congressional caucus and the business council were also engaged in another assignment: getting the Barack Obama administration to reverse course and send arms to their Peshmerga forces directly, rather than through the Shiite-dominated central government in Baghdad.

Directly, as opposed to sending weapons through a third party. There is no doubt the US has been arming the numerous Kurdish militias. YPG. PKK. Peshmerga.

"Filings made under the Foreign Agents Registration Act show that the Kurds and other foreign governments are willing to open their coffers to enlist K Street in their efforts to excite what they see as vital foreign policy goals. Saudi Arabia disclosed spending $4.36 million on lobbyists through the end of August this year, up from $2.1 million for the same period a year ago, as it tries to bolster its strategic relationship with the United States. Qatar boosted its spending to $1.35 million from $427,000 over the same period, focusing on outreach to non-governmental organizations and think tanks.

And in Washington, where K Street plays a role in everything from economic development to securing arms deals, Kurdistan’s sophisticated lobbying operation was also called upon to push for more arms for the Kurds.

“Given the instability and uncertainty in the Middle East, foreign governments know anything their ambassadors hear will probably be carefully filtered,” Lee Drutman, a senior fellow in New America’s political reform program who studies lobbying, told Foreign Policy. “What a Washington insider hears in his networks will be different than what an ambassador hears.”

The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has spent $291,000 on three firms, disclosures filed in 2015 show, and has signed a contract with a fourth that could be paid as much as $200,000 through the end of this year. The money comes on top of the goodwill (bribes, gifts and more money) the group has built by maintaining close ties to many lawmakers, including those who attend events at the KRG’s ornate quasi-embassy in one of Washington’s toniest neighborhoods.

The Kurds are marshaling those resources to persuade the White House to drop the existing U.S. policy of sending weapons only to Baghdad, which is then charged with distributing to the Kurds and other militias. The Kurds have quarreled with a succession of Iraqi prime ministers over how to divide the country’s oil riches and the degree of autonomy that should he accorded to their self-ruled region.

Since the Islamic State launched its sweeping offensive across Iraq in 2014, getting weapons quickly from the United States has been at the top of the agenda of the Kurdish lobby. The United States launched airstrikes last year to bolster the beleaguered Kurdish forces trying to prevent the militants from moving on Irbil, the capital of the semiautonomous Kurdish region.

While the Kurds have specific requests for medium to heavy arms, including vehicles, munitions, and the guns to deliver them, what they want most of all is the ability to deal directly with the Pentagon and the U.S.-led coalition for the supplies.

Washington has balked, instead insisting that all American weaponry earmarked for Iraq go through the central government in Baghdad. A Pentagon official reiterated that U.S. “policy remains that all arms transfers must be coordinated via the sovereign central government of Iraq.”

Though the unnamed Pentagon official knows that is a lie!

That policy also applies to the Kurdish forces, who have managed to reclaim some territory from the Islamic State and to prevent the group from conquering more of their lands.

To keep policymakers apprised of their progress on the battlefield, the KRG has a sophisticated network of lobbyists, which has included former congressional staffers, members, government officials, and political strategists. Its U.S. liaison office, which functions as an embassy for the semiautonomous region, is located in a historic building near Dupont Circle. Purchased for $3.1 million in 2007, it regularly hosts events that draw lawmakers, administration officials, and journalists.

The liaison office, organized as a nonprofit corporation, had a $1.6 million budget in 2013, the most recent year for which filings are available. It’s also registered as a foreign agent of the KRG, and lobbies government officials and members of Congress. Additionally, Kurdistan’s government has four firms under contract — lobby shops BGR Government Affairs and Greenberg Traurig; public relations powerhouse Qorvis Communications; and Dentons, an international law firm.

“The American government is huge,” Karwan Zebari, director of diplomatic and political affairs for the liaison office, told FP. “Many nations and missions depend on the private sector in Washington to help with navigating the complexities and the vastness of it.”

Navigating that vast and complex bureaucracy requires the right personnel. When one of its lobbyists, David Tafuri, left Squire Patton Boggs for Dentons, Kurdistan hired Dentons to retain his expertise. Tafuri did a 16-month stint as the rule of law coordinator for Iraq for the State Department until October 2007. An international lawyer, he also served as a foreign policy advisor to Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign.

Tafuri’s work for the Kurds has focused more on economic development matters — he helped launch a U.S. Chamber of Commerce initiative to spur investment in Iraq and the U.S.-Kurdistan Business Council, whose members are companies doing business in Kurdistan — but he has also taken up the case for arming Kurdistan, including in a 2014 opinion piece he wrote for the Wall Street Journal.The tagline identified him as legal counsel to the Kurdish Regional Government.

The oped's, written by K Street lobbyists, are mentioned in the previous post. Amazing what a whole bunch of money can buy from the main stream media. It can buy your concept of reality. Not reality. Just your perception of reality.

“ISIS is not going to go away any time soon, but the Kurdistan region has made progress in

Of course, Kurdistan’s lobbyists also get paid. Dentons’ contract with the Kurdish regional government is for $20,000 a month. Greenberg Traurig disclosed $65,000 worth of payments over six months in its most recent disclosure with the Justice Department, while BGR Government Affairs got $150,000.

On behalf of the Kurds, Hoekstra had dozens of contacts with the offices of his former colleagues pushing support for the Kurds.

The United States says that it is providing sufficient aid to the Kurds. A Pentagon official ticked off some of the items — 40 mine-resistant troop carriers, 56 million rounds of ammunition for small arms to heavy machine guns, 56,000 anti-tank rounds for the Kurds. U.S.-led coalition commanders assess what weapons or hardware are needed by the various forces, whether it’s the Iraqi army, the Peshmerga, or Sunni tribesmen, and then provide that support through the Iraqi government.

In some cases, the equipment might be shipped directly to the Kurds — as long as the Iraqi government has given approval. For example, 25 mine-resistant vehicles were flown directly to Irbil in the Kurdish region in January this year — at the request of the central Iraqi government.

As I mentioned the US is arming the Kurds, all of them, directly. In more ways then one.

The Peshmerga forces have done well. So well, in fact, that Kurdistan’s lobby is turning its attention back to luring businesses. “The Kurdistan region continues to be a place with significant opportunities particularly for North American and European companies because the Kurdistan region very much wants to promote investment,” Tafuri told FP.

Zebari was even more effusive. “A good part of our attention was on degrading and destroying ISIL, kicking them out of our territory for which we have,” he said of the battles in 2014. “However, Kurdistan remains safe, secure, prospering, and open for business.

“Within the past couple of weeks,” he added, “we launched the first ever Kurdistan Tour Guide to attract not only businesses to Kurdistan, but tourists as well.”

Think about this?

War is .....

...THE CONTINUATION OF STATE POLICY, BY OTHER MEANS

.......A POLITICAL ACTIVITY IN WHICH VIOLENCE IS USED TO BEND THE WILL OF YOUR ENEMY TO THAT OF YOUR OWN

Stop being Manipulated by the Elites

For if you [the rulers] suffer your people to be ill-educated, and their manners to be corrupted from their infancy, and then punish them for those crimes to which their first education disposed them, what else is to be concluded from this, but that you first make thieves [outlaws] and then punish them.´ - Sir Thomas More (1478-1535)

Resource: Ukraine Military Marker

How your brain works

“‘Each thought and behavior is embedded within the circuitry of the neurons, and…neuronal activity accompanying or initiating an experience persists in the form of reverberating neuronal circuits, which become more strongly defined with repetition”

Richard Restak

Unshackle YOUR mind

'The most potent weapon in the hands of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed'- Steve Biko

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Edward Bernays: Perception Management it is a Reality

"The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society,"

"Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country. . . . In almost every act of our daily lives, whether in the sphere of politics or business, in our social conduct or our ethical thinking, we are dominated by the relatively small number of persons . . . who understand the mental processes and social patterns of the masses. It is they who pull the wires which control the public mind."

About Me

This blog is a place to not only post information that will never see the light of day on the mainstream media, but, also to present alternative perspectives to main stream media information, that most often presents no background, no context, and never questions the information presented.
The name I chose, Penny for your thoughts, is an invitation to readers to share their relevant thoughts on the varying information.